{"id":932,"date":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/ib\/2018\/04\/06\/immigration-status-a\/"},"modified":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2018-04-06T00:00:00","slug":"immigration-status-a","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/ib\/citizenship\/immigration-status-a\/","title":{"rendered":"Immigration Status: A Relevant Consideration in Determining the Best Interests of a Child"},"content":{"rendered":"

New Jersey\u2019s Superior Court Appellate Division recently\u00a0addressed a growing family law concern<\/a>\u00a0in New Jersey\u2019s immigrant communities:\u00a0Is a parent\u2019s immigration status relevant in child custody proceedings?<\/em><\/p>\n

The child\u2014Oliver\u2014was born in Guatemala in 1999.\u00a0 Oliver\u2019s childhood in Guatemala was far from one where he was able to enjoy sports, parks, fun, computers, reading, and games, or receive an education\u2014it was the very opposite.<\/p>\n

Oliver\u2019s father disappeared shortly after Oliver was born.\u00a0 He left Oliver and his six siblings with their severely diabetic and unemployable mother.\u00a0 Each child had to fend for himself or herself in a country that continues to lack any sense of political or economic security.\u00a0 Oliver began farming fields when he was six years old.\u00a0 He rarely attended school and suffered severe rebukes at the hand of his mother when he asked to play or attend school rather than work long hours each day.<\/p>\n

In 2005, Oliver\u2019s adult brother (\u201cBrother\u201d) unlawfully crossed the Mexican border into the United States and moved to New Jersey.\u00a0 He remains undocumented, but is seeking protection from deportation, claiming a fear of return to Guatemala.\u00a0 Brother\u2019s immigration future is uncertain.<\/p>\n

Ten years after his brother, frustrated by the denial of his right to an education and overwhelmed by the forced labor, Oliver, age 16, fled Guatemala in November of 2015.\u00a0 Oliver trekked north through Mexico, slept on the streets and in homes of strangers, ate and drank little, was alone and scared.\u00a0 After a month of traveling, Oliver made it to the border and, in the early morning hours of December 10, 2015, Oliver swam across the Rio Grande River into the United States.\u00a0 He then traveled to New Jersey, where he reunited with his brother.<\/p>\n

Soon after Oliver arrived in New Jersey, his brother brought an action in the Family Part, seeking custody of Oliver, as a predicate to obtaining Special Immigrant Juvenile Status (\u201cSIJS\u201d) for Oliver.\u00a0 SIJS is a designation provided in federal immigration law for juveniles who have entered the United States, have no lawful status, and are unable to reunite with either parent because of abuse, neglect, or abandonment.\u00a0 If granted SIJS, the child has a pathway to obtain lawful permanent resident status, and later become a naturalized American citizen.\u00a0 To qualify for SIJS, a state family court must find that the child meets certain enumerated criteria.<\/p>\n

One SIJS requirement is that the child is placed into the custody of an agency or an individual appointed by the family court.\u00a0 For Oliver, the individual seeking appointment was his brother.\u00a0 The Family Part denied the custody petition, finding, in part, that it was not in Oliver\u2019s best interests to be placed in the custody of a person who is an undocumented immigrant.\u00a0 The risk of deportation of an undocumented immigrant, the Family Part held, weighs against the best interests of the child.<\/p>\n

The Appellate Division disagreed, noting that the possibility that deportation \u201cmay\u201d occur at some point in the future was improperly considered:<\/p>\n

[T]he [Family] court found it was not in Oliver’s best interest to be placed in [Brother\u2019s] custody because, as an illegal alien, plaintiff may be deported.\u00a0 However, first, there is no evidence deportation was imminent or that any deportation proceeding even had been commenced. Second, [Brother] has initiated an action to become a lawfully-present alien, specifically, an alien granted asylum. Third, even if [Brother] were deported at some point in the future, Oliver may by then be emancipated.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Appellate Division held that the Family Part\u2019s concerns about Brother\u2019s immigration status, or that Brother is \u201cpresently an undocumented immigrant\u201d were unfounded in the record, because Oliver\u2019s brother had \u201cinitiated an action to become a lawfully-present alien.\u201d\u00a0 While the Appellate Division\u2019s holding was sympathetic and led to a result favorable for Oliver, the decision is certain to result in unintended consequences.\u00a0 In the past, a parent\u2019s immigration status was not a \u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00ad\u00addispositive fact when evaluating the best interests of a child.\u00a0 The Appellate Division has permitted the \u201cimmigration status\u201d door to open, which is sure to make immigration law a significant consideration in family courts across New Jersey when making best interests determinations.<\/p>\n

For Oliver\u2019s brother, the Court\u2019s reliance on his start of \u201can action to become a lawfully-present alien\u201d was sufficient to overcome his undocumented status concerns.\u00a0 But the Appellate Division, left open the question as to undocumented immigrants who have not<\/em> taken any affirmative action towards securing lawful permanent resident status.\u00a0 Further, what other affirmative immigration relief actions would sufficiently overcome deportation related concerns as they relate to the best interests of the child?\u00a0 And, how much information must a US Citizen parent introduce to establish the undocumented immigrant\u2019s status and imminent deportation?<\/p>\n

This case places immigration status in the mix when assessing and determining a child\u2019s best interests.\u00a0 If you need help in this situation, please call\u00a0Raymond Lahoud<\/a> at\u00a0rglahoud@nmmlaw.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

New Jersey\u2019s Superior Court Appellate Division recently\u00a0addressed a growing family law concern\u00a0in New Jersey\u2019s immigrant communities:\u00a0Is a parent\u2019s immigration status relevant in child custody proceedings? The child\u2014Oliver\u2014was born in Guatemala in 1999.\u00a0 Oliver\u2019s childhood in Guatemala was far from one where he was able to enjoy sports, parks, fun, computers, reading, and games, or receive […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":97,"featured_media":918,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,86],"tags":[87,88,3,27,89],"coauthors":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nImmigration Status: A Relevant Consideration in Determining the Best Interests of a Child - Immigration Matters<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/norrismclaughlin.com\/ib\/citizenship\/immigration-status-a\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Immigration Status: A Relevant Consideration in Determining the Best Interests of a Child\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"New Jersey\u2019s Superior Court Appellate Division recently\u00a0addressed a growing family law concern\u00a0in New Jersey\u2019s immigrant communities:\u00a0Is a parent\u2019s immigration status relevant in child custody proceedings? 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